Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has suggested that star striker Harry Kane may have to leave the club to boost his chances of winning trophies, and Spurs fans have been quick to respond to the 40-year-old’s comments.
The Portuguese boss left the north London outfit by mutual consent in December 2013 following a poor run of results in the Premier League, and in an interview via Hotspur TV he has suggested that the England international needs to move on to win some silverware.
Kane made his breakthrough for the club at the end of the 2013/14 campaign with three goals in 10 top flight appearances, and he has never looked back with a current tally of 134 goals in 201 games for Spurs.
Tottenham supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the quotes from Villas-Boas, and while one said “I liked the man before this comments”, another said “what a muppet”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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Pre-season is all about fitness, which is why there should be little importance placed on Arsenal’s 1-0 loss in the Emirates Cup to Monaco, and even less emphasis on the 5-1 hammering of Benfica a day earlier on Saturday.
Arsenal’s friendly tournament did offer a little insight to the current stages of two of Arsene Wenger’s young forwards, however.
The loudest cheer on Saturday arrived upon Alexis Sanchez’s showing, naturally. But there were plenty of eyes on Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo, with the latter picking up four goals – his first in an Arsenal shirt – against last season’s Europa League finalists.
Wenger made a point last season of commenting that Sanogo would surprise Arsenal supporters. Either it was a means to calm the unsettled masses after the comically cliché signing of the young French forward, or there was something genuine and sincere about what the Arsenal boss had to say.
Sanogo has the build to be a good player in the Premier League – there has been little doubt about that. The real question is whether he has the class and quality to play for a club like Arsenal. Though Wenger’s faith never seemed to waver last season, allowing for Sanogo to see minutes in extremely high-stakes games against Bayern Munich and Liverpool, as well as the semi-final and final of the FA Cup, the former Auxerre forward generally frustrated supporters, in spite of his willingness to work.
The Emirates Cup, as forgotten as it will be this time next week, may prove to be the watershed moment Sanogo needed. Friendly or not, scoring four goals will do wonders for the confidence of a striker who has had his fair share of opportunities to find that until-now elusive goal.
But the Frenchman is still a little way off being a good enough contributor to Arsenal, and though Wenger has a history of standing by youngsters at Arsenal, many are wise to the thought that the manager had little other option beside turning to Sanogo last season, with so few options behind first-choice striker Olivier Giroud.
A loan move for Sanogo is best, and preferably within the Premier League. It’s a huge step up from Ligue 2 Auxerre to a club battling for silverware on numerous fronts and competing in the Champions League. This time around, Wenger does have the options in his squad to relieve Sanogo for the upcoming campaign and allow for a much-needed loan spell away from the limelight of the Emirates.
One of those options is Joel Campbell, who was one of the standout performers in Arsenal’s win against Benfica.
It’s been an excellent year for the Costa Rican international thus far. He had been enjoying a promising loan spell at Olympiakos last season, but very much needed that goal against Manchester United in the Champions League to get his name out there and the ball rolling on what looks to be a bright future.
That was followed by his performances with his national side at the World Cup, in which Campbell proved to be one of the better players in his age group in Brazil. It didn’t take long for the calls from Arsenal supporters to arrive for Campbell to be included in the first-team squad for this season.
And the Emirate Cup has only furthered that claim that the 22-year-old merits a place in Wenger’s squad. Lining up on the right side of attack, Campbell was key in much of Arsenal’s good attacking play. He’s skilful, direct, possesses the quickness Arsenal were desperately short of last season, and certainly has the skill to delight supporters. His goal, Arsenal’s second against Benfica, was as good as anything he’s produced up until now.
Such has been Campbell’s ascent this year that AC Milan have been said to be interested in his services. Though the Italian side have seen a sharp downturn in form over the last 12 months, Milan is still a notable step up from Real Betis and Olympiakos – provided Arsenal choose to move Campbell on.
But in the event Wenger stays true to his word – the manager recently said one, possibly two, new players will arrive; and Arsenal will need a defensive midfielder and possibly a centre-back – Campbell must be retained to add depth and quality to the front line.
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The Costa Rican is versatile enough to play anywhere across the front three, but it’s on the flanks where his value will be most evident. Arsenal, having struggled last season in attack, need options who can get behind opposition backlines and help to stretch the play. Alexis is on the books now, so too is Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but there is no harm in adding even more quality and firepower.
Campbell and Sanogo are quite clearly at different stages in their development. Having seen plenty of top flight football in recent seasons, as well as top international football, Campbell is very much at the stage where he can be considered a valuable member of the Arsenal squad. Sanogo, on the other hand, still has a little way to go. The options available to Wenger now means he can tap the breaks a little in regards to the French forward and allow him the time to develop at his own pace.
The Emirates Cup is a good event to showcase the club’s newest arrivals, but we have also been able to take a lot from the performances of two of Arsenal’s bright young forwards.
Tottenham Hotspur are leading the race to snap up Crystal Palace wonderkid Wilfried Zaha as their scouting team step up their assignments on the player, according to the Daily Mirror.
Zaha has been in sublime form for the Eagles so far this season and it appears that despite Spurs being the main contenders for the England under-21’s signature, rivals Arsenal and Chelsea are also in the hunt for the pacey winger.
Palace set their asking price at a whopping £20million for their prized asset last week but it appears Spurs would be happy to pay an original £10million plus add ons for the hottest youngsters around.
The Daily Mirror also report that former Arsenal assistant manager, Pat Rice, has been to watch Zaha twice in recent weeks along with representatives from Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City amongst others.
It seems Palace will struggle to receive their £20million target, however with the amount of competition for Zaha’s signature; they may not fall too far short. I know that every Eagles fan will simply say ‘He’s just too good for you!’
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Everton are interested in signing AC Milan’s M’Baye Niang who impressed in Senegal’s opening game of the World Cup against Poland.
The forward spent the second half of the 2016/17 season on loan at Watford where he scored twice and assisting two in 16 Premier League games for the Hornets.
The Senegal international then spent last season on loan at Torino where he scored four goals and registered one assist during his spell at the Italian outfit.
The 22-year-old is valued at £9million on Transfermarkt but according to TalkSport, Watford were given the option to sign him for £15million and it is thought a similar offer could convince the Rossoneri to part with the striker.
M’Baye Niang statistics v Poland
Following his commanding performance against Poland in Senegal’s opening World Cup game, his stock could well rise.
Niang scored Senegal’s controversial second goal as he sprinted onto the pitch after an injury to intercept a back pass and round Poland’s goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
However, he had a strong all-round performance and was constantly a threat to the Polish defence.
He registered two shots, scoring with one, made one key pass and won two fouls for Senegal.
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If he continues at this pace in the World Cup, his value would soar and if Everton are keen on bringing the pacy forward to Goodison Park, they would be wise to snap him up quickly.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255571″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Five outrageous World Cup stats you won’t believe are true”]
Paul Pogba is a wonderful footballer. So wonderful, in fact, that he once commanded a world record fee back when transfer fees were simply mad, rather than the hallucinatory sums they have become just two years later.
But something strange happens every time Pogba has a bad game: he gets criticised for certain issues that keep popping up. One is his disposition to neglect the defensive side of his game. The other is his supposed inability to put his stamp on games.
The first question to ask is whether or not this is actually true, and the second will then be to figure out how to actually solve the problem.
Incidentally, they are fair complaints. Pogba does often appear to neglect the defensive side of the game, but mostly because he is a superb attacking player who naturally likes to bring his team forward. He is the link between defence and attack and as such is a player who will naturally drift forward towards his attackers who he wants to support.
So perhaps not so much neglecting his defensive duties and more a style of play issue – if it’s an issue at all – but you can see how some might interpret it as a lack of back-tracking.
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The second point, though, is simply a strange one. Pogba gets criticised when United lose or draw. In that case, he’s clearly failed to put his stamp on the game. But why criticise him for failing? Why not point out where he should improve?
But the problem doesn’t appear to be Pogba, though. It appears to be his manager.
Sometimes you can criticise a player for looking lost or ineffective, even not knowing what he’s supposed to be doing on the pitch. At times, when Pogba doesn’t play well, these are the criticisms he might be getting. And yet, you have to wonder how much of that is a lack of instruction, or an issue stemming from the balance of the squad.
So far this season, Jose Mourinho has played in a defensive manner, certainly in the biggest games. And part of that defence-first football has been an unwillingness to take risks. Pogba has been the chief victim of that strategy. When you don’t trust your team to control the game, then you don’t trust your midfielders on the ball. Consequently, Pogba has been asked to play on the counter-attack, and so when most of his touches come during speedy breaks where he’s always looking to play the ball forward to pacey attackers, how is he supposed to actually control games?
What this comes down to is Jose Mourinho’s inability to get the best out of his biggest asset, and when Alexis Sanchez – who has played the first half of the season in an Arsenal team who have struggled majorly at times – has no shots on target for the first time this campaign, you have to ask whether the United boss is simply not getting the best out of his most important players.
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There will always be criticism when things go wrong, and despite defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday night, United have still been beaten only twice since October in the Premier League. There is clear room for improvement, but things perhaps aren’t as bad as they might seem after a defeat like that.
Yet if Manchester United are to improve, surely Jose Mourinho has to find a way to allow his best and most creative players a chance to actually thrive.
It seems that the past week haven’t been the best for Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood. Having been under heavy media fire after criticising his players, his staff, and even the owners, Sherwood is back in the spotlight after his team fell to a 3-1 home defeat to Benfica in the EuropaAfter some Spurs players came out to confess the hostile dressing room atmosphere after Chelsea beat thrashed them 4-0, the manager was at it again as he was spotted going head-to-head with Benfica boss Jorge Jesus.Fans on Twitter as expect, had a field day, with suggestions that Tim Sherwood is not really doing anyone favours as he is finds himself in the middle of a media storm again.Is Sherwood’s time running out at White Hart Lane?https://vine.co/v/MbgbaBJ1iMI/embed/simple
We celebrated 20 years of the Premier League last season and what a pair of decades they’ve been. There’s been incredible goals, saves and celebrations year after year produced by a number of incredible players. England’s top flight has seen some truly remarkable talent during that time, with some of the greatest players to ever play the beautiful game lighting up the league. Much was expected of stars like Thierry Henry or Patrick Vieira when they first arrived, but others, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Cesc Fabregas, shot to stardom out of nowhere.
However, there’s been scores of players who simply haven’t delivered the goods at the highest level unfortunately. Countless times, an individual has broken through the ranks or signed from abroad with much expected from him, only to disappoint everyone when he fails to make the cut. It’s inevitable given the turnover of players these days among the top clubs that some of the replacements aren’t going to be up to scratch, but there have been some miserable flops over the years. We check out the top 15 Premier League players that offered so much, but delivered so little.
Click on Mario Jardel to unveil the 15 that offered much and delivered little
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Arsenal fans are absolutely losing it over the links to Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira, praying their club can get a deal over the line.Earlier this week, Gazzetto Dello Sport claimed Arsenal had entered the race to sign Torreira, alongside the likes of Napoli and Borussia Dortmund.After Calciomercato said “Arsenal mean business†in the hunt for Torreira, local outlet sampnews24 have now added fuel to the fire, saying the Gunners have actually agreed a deal with the club.According to the report out of Sampdoria, the Italian club are happy for Arsenal to trigger the midfielder’s €25m (£22m) release clause, and are just waiting for terms to be agreed with the player.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”252976″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch 21 things that will definitely happen at the World Cup”]The feisty Uruguayan is heavily linked with a move to Napoli as Jorginho’s replacement, so reports should certainly be taken with a pinch of salt, but there is definitely interest from the Gunners.Unai Emery is likely to instil a high tempo pressing style at the Emirates, and the tenacious Torreira would be a perfect fit alongside Granit Xhaka, allowing the Swiss international to fire on all cylinders.Arsenal fans are absolutely loving the links, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
Matteo Darmian was among the players that came into the Manchester United team for Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash against Yeovil Town.
Darmian has really struggled for football this season, and had been strongly tipped to leave Old Trafford during the January transfer window.
That might still be the case, but the 36-time Italy international was named in the United XI for the clash with League Two side on Friday night.
It was the 28-year-old’s 12th United appearance of the season, and the majority of those have come in the cup competitions due to the form of Antonio Valencia at right-back.
Whilst promising defender Axel Tuanzebe has been sent on loan to Aston Villa, Darmian is still being picked by United boss Jose Mourinho.
It would be fair to say that the United supporters have not been impressed with Darmian’s performances this season, and many were shocked when he was named in the XI against Yeovil.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be found below:
Domestic cup competitions across Europe offer teams without much chance of league success the opportunity to add some silverware to their trophy cabinets.
It’s widely regarded as the next best thing for the league’s proverbial underdogs, the chance to realise a dream for fans of any team brave enough to go all the way and lift the trophy.
But more often than not, we eventually see one of the country’s biggest or richest clubs winning it at the end of the season and adding it to the league title they had also nabbed that year.
Although that cannot be said for the Capital One Cup at the moment, with the competition quickly becoming the most open domestic cup competition in Europe.
Last season’s final between Swansea City and Bradford City was a breath of fresh air for many a football fan and a real advert for the competition and the opportunities it provides for smaller clubs.
The year before that, we saw Championship side Cardiff City reach the Final, only to lose agonisingly in a penalty shoot out against Liverpool.
The year before that we witnessed relegation strugglers Birmingham City stun Arsenal with a last minute winner to give them something to cling on to as they slipped down into the Championship later that year.
In fact, the last time a League Cup Final was contested by two teams from the Premier League’s top-four was back in 2007 when Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 at Wembley. That was just one of three Finals involving two top-flight ‘giants’ since 1987, when Arsenal faced Liverpool.
During that time we’ve seen the likes of Luton Town, Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Swansea lift the cup, while teams such as Oldham Athletic, Tranmere Rovers, Wigan Athletic , Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City have all competed at Wembley.
Since the competition’s inception in 1960, Liverpool have lifted the trophy a record eight times with Aston Villa lagging behind with just five. The likes of Chelsea (4), Manchester United (4), Arsenal (2) and Manchester City (2) have a long way to go to catch up with them.
But if you take a look at the history of the domestic cup competitions across Europe’s top footballing countries, they are not as wide open and winnable by anyone as our very own Football League Trophy.
Germany’s DFB-Pokal has seen giants Bayern Munich crowned champions a huge 16 times since it began in 1953. The second most successful side in the competition, Borussia Dortmund, has only six titles, which says a lot about how open that domestic competition is.
Moving over to Italy, and the last 10 years have seen just Lazio, Napoli, Inter Milan and Roma lift the Coppa Italia – all sides competing inside the top four, five or six of Seria A. The most successful sides in the competition since 1922 are Roma and Juventus, who both share nine victories between them.
In France, where it is a little bit more open, Paris Saint-Germain, Bordeaux and Marseille have each won the Coupe de la Ligue on three occasions since its change of format in 1995, which suggests it’s still a competition most commonly won by Ligue 1’s biggest clubs.
Lastly we have Spain’s Copa Del Rey, which has been won a monumental 26 times by Barcelona and 18 times by Real Madrid. But, amazingly, Athletic Bilbao have 23 titles, although their last was way back in 1984. The last time a Copa Del Rey Final was played between two sides not in La Liga’s top six was in 2008 when Valencia and Getafe went head-to-head at the Vicente Calderon.
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It’s the continuous monopoly of big European teams in their respective domestic cups that gives the Capital One Cup’s exciting and unpredictable outcome each season even more pedigree.
And with Sunderland hoping to do the impossible in the Final this year, there’s every reason to believe you can win this competition, even if you’re not a top Premier League outfit.
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